Chapter 1

INTRODUCTORY

GOD'S SIDE AND MAN'S SIDE

In introducing this subject of the life and walk of faith, I desire, at thevery outset, to clear away one misunderstanding which very commonly arises inreference to the teaching of it, and which effectually hinders a clearapprehension of such teaching. This misunderstanding comes from the fact thatthe two sides of the subject are rarely kept in view at the same time. Peoplesee distinctly the way in which one side is presented, and, dwellingexclusively upon this, without even a thought of any other, it is no wonderthat distorted views of the whole matter are the legitimate consequence.

     Now there are two very decided and distinctsides to this subject, and, like all other subjects, it cannot be fullyunderstood unless both of these sides are kept constantly in view. I refer, ofcourse, to God's side and man's side; or, in other words, to God's part in thework of sanctification, and man's part. These are very distinct and evencontrastive, but are not contradictory; though, to a cursory observer, theysometimes look so.

     This was very strikingly illustrated to me notlong ago. There were two teachers of this higher Christian life holdingmeetings in the same place, at alternate hours. One spoke only of God's part inthe work, and the other dwelt exclusively upon man's part. They were both inperfect sympathy with one another, and realized fully that they were eachteaching different sides of the same great truth; and this also was understoodby a large proportion of their hearers. But with some of the hearers it wasdifferent, and one lady said to me, in the greatest perplexity, "I cannotunderstand it at all. Here are two preachers undertaking to teach just the sametruth, and yet to me they seem flatly to contradict one another." And I felt atthe time that she expressed a puzzle which really causes a great deal ofdifficulty in the minds of many honest inquirers after this truth.

     Suppose two friends go to see some celebratedbuilding, and return home to describe it. One has seen only the north side, andthe other only the south. The first says, "The building was built in such amanner, and has such and such stories and ornaments." "Oh, no!" says the other,interrupting him, "you are altogether mistaken; I saw the building, and it wasbuilt in quite a different manner, and its ornaments and stories were so andso." A lively dispute would probably follow upon the truth of the respectivedescriptions, until the two friends discover that they have been describingdifferent sides of the building, and then all is reconciled at once.

     I would like to state as clearly as I can what Ijudge to be the two distinct sides in this matter; and to show how the lookingat one without seeing the other, will be sure to create wrong impressions andviews of the truth.

     To state it in brief, I would just say that man'spart is to trust and God's part is to work; and it can be seen at a glance howcontrastive these two parts are, and yet not necessarily contradictory. I meanthis. There is a certain work to be accomplished. We are to be delivered fromthe power of sin, and are to be made perfect in every good work to do the willof God. "Beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord," we are to be actually"changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of theLord." We are to be transformed by the renewing of our minds, that we may provewhat is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God. A real work is to bewrought in us and upon us. Besetting sins are to be conquered. Evil habits areto be overcome. Wrong dispositions and feelings are to be rooted out, and holytempers and emotions are to be begotten. A positive transformation is to takeplace. So at least the Bible teaches. Now somebody must do this. Either we mustdo it for ourselves, or another must do it for us. We have most of us tried todo it for ourselves at first, and have grievously failed; then we discover fromthe Scriptures and from our own experience that it is a work we are utterlyunable to do for ourselves, but that the Lord Jesus Christ has come on purposeto do it, and that He will do it for all who put themselves wholly into Hishand, and trust Him to do it. Now under these circumstances, what is the partof the believer, and what is the part of the Lord? Plainly the believer can donothing but trust; while the Lord, in whom he trusts, actually does the workintrusted to Him. Trusting and doing are certainly contrastive things, andoften contradictory; but are they contradictory in this case? Manifestly not,because it is two different parties that are concerned. If we should say of oneparty in a transaction that he trusted his case to another, and yet attended toit himself, we should state a contradiction and an impossibility. But when wesay of two parties in a transaction that one trusts the other to do something,and that that other goes to work and does it, we are making a statement that isperfectly simple and harmonious. When we say, therefore, that in this higherlife, man's part is to trust, and that God does the thing intrusted to Him, wedo not surely present any very difficult or puzzling problem.

     The preacher who is speaking on man's part inthis matter cannot speak of anything but surrender and trust, because this ispositively all the man can do. We all agree about this. And yet such preachersare constantly criticised as though, in saying this, they had meant to implythere was no other part, and that therefore nothing but trusting is done. Andthe cry goes out that this doctrine of faith does away with all realities, thatsouls are just told to trust, and that is the end of it, and they sit downthenceforward in a sort of religious easy-chair, dreaming away a life fruitlessof any actual results. All this misapprehension arises, of course, from thefact that either the preacher has neglected to state, or the hearer has failedto hear, the other side of the matter; which is, that when we trust, the Lordworks, and that a great deal is done, not by us, but by Him. Actual results arereached by our trusting, because our Lord undertakes the thing trusted to Him,and accomplishes it. We do not do anything, but He does it; and it is all themore effectually done because of this. The puzzle as to the preaching of faithdisappears entirely as soon as this is clearly seen.

     On the other hand, the preacher who dwells onGod's side of the question is criticised on a totally different ground. He doesnot speak of trust, for the Lord's part is not to trust, but to work. The Lorddoes the thing intrusted to Him. He disciplines and trains the soul by inwardexercises and outward providences. He brings to bear all the resources of Hiswisdom and love upon the refining and purifying of that soul. He makeseverything in the life and circumstances of such a one subservient to the onegreat purpose of making him grow in grace, and of conforming him, day by dayand hour by hour, to the image of Christ. He carries him through a process oftransformation, longer or shorter, as his peculiar case may require, makingactual and experimental the results for which the soul has trusted. We havedared, for instance, according to the command in Rom. 6:11, by faith to reckonourselves "dead unto sin." The Lord makes this a reality, and leads us tovictory over self, by the daily and hourly discipline of His providences. Ourreckoning is available only because God thus makes it real. And yet thepreacher who dwells upon this practical side of the matter, and tells of God'sprocesses for making faith's reckonings experimental realities, is accused ofcontradicting the preaching of faith altogether, and of declaring only aprocess of gradual sanctification by works, and of setting before the soul animpossible and hopeless task.

     Now, sanctification is both a sudden step offaith, and also a gradual process of works. It is a step as far as we areconcerned; it is a process as to God's part. By a step of faith we get intoChrist; by a process we are made to grow up unto Him in all things. By a stepof faith we put ourselves into the hands of the Divine Potter; by a gradualprocess He makes us into a vessel unto His own honor, meet for His use, andprepared to every good work.

     To illustrate all this: suppose I were to bedescribing to a person, who was entirely ignorant of the subject, the way inwhich a lump of clay is made into a beautiful vessel. I tell him first the partof the clay in the matter, and all I can say about this is, that the clay isput into the potter's hands, and then lies passive there, submitting itself toall the turnings and overturnings of the potter's hands upon it. There isreally nothing else to be said about the clay's part. But could my hearer arguefrom this that nothing else is done, because I say that this is all the claycan do? If he is an intelligent hearer, he will not dream of doing so, but willsay, "I understand. This is what the clay must do; but what must the potterdo?" "Ah," I answer, "now we come to the important part. The potter takes theclay thus abandoned to his working, and begins to mould and fashion itaccording to his own will. He kneads and works it, he tears it apart andpresses it together again, he wets it and then suffers it to dry. Sometimes heworks at it for hours together, sometimes he lays it aside for days and doesnot touch it. And then, when by all these processes he has made it perfectlypliable in his hands, he proceeds to make it up into the vessel he haspurposed. He turns it upon the wheel, planes it and smooths it, and dries it inthe sun, bakes it in the oven, and finally turns it out of his workshop, avessel to his honor and fit for his use."

     Will my hearer be likely now to say that I amcontradicting myself; that a little while ago I had said the clay had nothingto do but lie passive in the potter's hands, and that now I am putting upon ita great work which it is not able to perform; and that to make itself into sucha vessel is an impossible and hopeless undertaking? Surely not. For he will seethat, while before I was speaking of the clay's part in the matter, I am nowspeaking of the potter's part, and that these two are necessarily contrastive,but not in the least contradictory, and that the clay is not expected to do thepotter's work, but only to yield itself up to his working.

     Nothing, it seems to me, could be clearer thanthe perfect harmony between these two apparently contradictory sorts ofteaching on this subject. What can be said about man's part in this great work,but that he must continually surrender himself and continually trust?

     But when we come to God's side of the question,what is there that may not be said as to the manifold and wonderful ways inwhich He accomplishes the work intrusted to Him? It is here that the growingcomes in. The lump of clay would never grow into a beautiful vessel if itstayed in the clay-pit for thousands of years. But once put into the hands of askilful potter, and, under his fashioning, it grows rapidly into a vessel tohis honor. And so the soul, abandoned to the working of the Heavenly Potter, ischanged rapidly from glory to glory into the image of the Lord by HisSpirit.

     Having, therefore, taken the step of faith bywhich you have put yourself wholly and absolutely into His hands, you must nowexpect Him to begin to work. His way of accomplishing that which you haveintrusted to Him may be different from your way. But He knows, and you must besatisfied.

     I knew a lady who had entered into this life offaith with a great outpouring of the Spirit, and a wonderful flood of light andjoy. She supposed, of course, this was a preparation for some great service,and expected to be put forth immediately into the Lord's harvest field. Insteadof this, almost at once her husband lost all his money, and she was shut up inher own house, to attend to all sorts of domestic duties, with no time orstrength left for any Gospel work at all. She accepted the discipline, andyielded herself up as heartily to sweep, and dust, and bake, and sew, as shewould have done to preach, or pray or write for the Lord. And the result wasthat through this very training He made her into a vessel "meet for theMaster's use, and prepared unto every good work."

     Another lady, who had entered this life of faithunder similar circumstances of wondrous blessing, and who also expected to besent out to do some great work, was shut up with two peevish invalid nieces, tonurse, and humor, and amuse them all day long. Unlike the first lady, this onedid not accept the training, but chafed and fretted, and finally rebelled, lostall her blessing, and went back into a state of sad coldness and misery. Shehad understood her part of trusting to begin with, but not understanding thedivine process of accomplishing that for which she had trusted, she tookherself out of the hands of the Heavenly Potter, and the vessel was marred onthe wheel.

     I believe many a vessel has been similarly marredby a want of understanding these things. The maturity of Christian experiencecannot be reached in a moment, but is the result of the work of God's HolySpirit, who, by His energizing and transforming power, causes us to grow upinto Christ in all things. And we cannot hope to reach this maturity in anyother way than by yielding ourselves up utterly and willingly to His mightyworking. But the sanctification the Scriptures urge as a present experienceupon all believers does not consist in maturity of growth, but in purity ofheart, and this may be as complete in the babe in Christ as in the veteranbeliever.

     The lump of clay, from the moment it comes underthe transforming hand of the potter, is, during each day and each hour of theprocess, just what the potter wants it to be at that hour or on that day, andtherefore pleases him. But it is very far from being matured into the vessel heintends in the future to make it.

     The little babe may be all that a babe could be,or ought to be, and may therefore perfectly please its mother, and yet it isvery far from being what that mother would wish it to be when the years ofmaturity shall come.

     The apple in June is a perfect apple for June. Itis the best apple that June can produce. But it is very different from theapple in October, which is a perfected apple.

     God's works are perfect in every stage of theirgrowth. Man's works are never perfect until they are in every respectcomplete.

     All that we claim then in this life ofsanctification is, that by a step of faith we put ourselves into the hands ofthe Lord, for Him to work in us all the good pleasure of His will; and that bya continuous exercise of faith we keep ourselves there. This is our part in thematter. And when we do it, and while we do it, we are, in the Scripture sense,truly pleasing to God, although it may require years of training and disciplineto mature us into a vessel that shall be in all respects to His honor, andfitted to every good work.

     Our part is the trusting, it is His to accomplishthe results. And when we do our part, He never fails to do His, for no one evertrusted in the Lord and was confounded. Do not be afraid, then, that if youtrust, or tell others to trust, the matter will end there. Trust is only thebeginning and the continual foundation; when we trust, the Lord works, and Hiswork is the important part of the whole matter. And this explains that apparentparadox which puzzles so many. They say, "In one breath you tell us to donothing but trust, and in the next you tell us to do impossible things. How canyou reconcile such contradictory statements?" They are to be reconciled just aswe reconcile the statements concerning a saw in a carpenter's shop, when we sayat one moment that the saw has sawn asunder a log, and the next moment declarethat the carpenter has done it. The saw is the instrument used, the power thatuses it is the carpenter's. And so we, yielding ourselves unto God, and ourmembers as instruments of righteousness unto Him, find that He works in us towill and to do of His good pleasure; and we can say with Paul, "I labored; yetnot I, but the grace of God which was with me." For we are to be Hisworkmanship, not our own. (Eph. 2:10.) And in fact, when we come to look at it,only God, who created us at first, can re-create us, for He alone understandsthe "work of His own hands." All efforts after self-creating, result in themarring of the vessel, and no soul can ever reach its highest fulfillmentexcept through the working of Him who "worketh all things after the counsel ofHis own will."

     In this book I shall of course dwell mostly uponman's side in the matter, as I am writing for man, and in the hope of teachingbelievers how to fulfil their part of the great work. But I wish it to bedistinctly understood all through, that unless I believed with all my heart inGod's effectual working on His side, not one word of this book would ever havebeen written.